Not much to put up on the fishing board

BILL SABOFishing Columnist

Published Thursday, August 22, 2002

Some weeks are better than others -- and this one of the 'others'.

There isn't much to put on the board and compounding the situation is the fact that there is nothing to blame in the way of weather. I've written of summers when the rain was overwhelming or non-existent. Unseasonable windy conditions, tropical storms, and thermoclines all served as excuses but I can't find one this week.

What makes the present situation so frustrating is that we are virtually looking through the window of the best fishing season of the year. That is, within a month the best catches from almost all aspects will commence. We can see through the glass but we are not yet in the window.

Along the beaches will be millions of mullet, and they will be accompanied by a fleet of predators. Shrimp in the St. Johns and the ICW will achieve desirable size, offshore waters have a longer wait but will start to make the turn toward their autumn peak Crabbing at Guana will improve dramatically along with reds, drum, and flounder. September to January is a great time around here.

But it's not yet here. The numbers of shrimp in the St. Johns are so good that even the TV meteorologists speak of them. What they do not talk about, however, is their size. They're small, still. Some feel that a molt will come with this week's full moon, initiating the next growth stage. I don't know, I don't know that much about shrimp. Several people have implored shrimpers to use a larger mesh -- over 5/8 an inch -- net in order to allow the small shrimp to escape uninjured. Some have said it should be mandatory -- raise the mesh size of cast nets as a state regulation.

As for the fishing, Bill Kerr (Hook, Line and Sinker) said that he heard of decent whiting catches coming from the North Beach area. He generally has a pretty good gauge on that by the number of fresh dead shrimp he sells to his beach regulars. Reports from other sections have not fared so well. Most whiting were small; at the County Pier they were non-existent which will probably be true for fishing in general by next week.

Renourishment continues and the pier should pretty much be an overview of the sand as it continues.

What strikes me as odd is why the county did not anticipate this years ago when the renourishment project was supposed to start. It's not as if the dredgers showed up one day and no one knew about it. We need a much longer pier -- we had one at one time and for a very brief period fishermen experienced the outstanding.

Unfortunately, engineers couldn't engineer as good as the anglers could fish, county officials didn't know the difference, and we ended up with an abbreviated (com)promise after the new pier collapsed. It was thick, it was high, it was strong, but it was short; and now it's about to be dry.

One the hot items out at the pier years ago were flounder. This time of year was particularly good near the pilings. I heard little about flounder this summer, and certainly none from the pier; a few other areas checked in, though. Kerr said that a couple of guys came into his place with 10 flatties that ranged 3 to 9-and-a-half pounds. The middle consisted of 5, 6, and a 7-pound fish. They were caught at the south jetty.

Decent, but not great reports of flounder came from the Matanzas area although reds near the spoil island and mangrove snapper were more of interest according to Sue Glass (Devil's Elbow). In fact, red reports were improved most everywhere.

Offshore was slow but the K-2, Bacchus, and Jodie Lynn II all had respectable catches of redeyes, amberjack and red snapper. Other less prevalent species included triggers, yellowtail, gags, king mackerel, dolphin, porgies, and of course the obligatory barracuda.

Tarpon are big at this time of year (figuratively and literally) and their presence remained high. Captain Kevin Faver said last week that he thought that conservation regulations put in force several years ago were now coming home to roost as more tarpon -- and more big fish -- were being caught and released. This is their time and they are here.

Tarpon go where there is a lot to eat; be it by catch from shrimpers or schools of mullet. Consequently, they prowl in the ocean (near shore) or well up the ICW.

Interesting note: The lights from the renourishment dredger, at night, have apparently attracted a number of interested species. Scuttlebutt speaks of big sharks feeding on whatever outcomes there are to a myriad of baitfish attracted by the lights. The forage includes glass minnows and kin, crabs, cuttlefish, and squid (over a pound). Prey and predator included jacks, Spanish, kings, tarpon, and sharks. The bad news is if you want to fish there, you have to work there -- not at the same time however.